Sungho Kim

South Korean lyric tenor Sungho Kim has been a member of the Theater Dortmund ensemble since the 2020/21 season. Winner of the Song Prize at BBC Cardiff Singer of the World in 2023, he performs established lyric repertoire alongside new works. His 2026 engagements include Iskra in Clémence de Grandval’s Mazeppa in Dortmund, Rodolfo in La bohème at Oper Leipzig and a recital with Llŷr Williams at Wigmore Hall.

New opera is a recurring part of his stage work. In 2026, Mr. Kim appeared as the Singer of Siegfried in the concert world premiere of Bernhard Lang’s Brünnhilde brennt at the Bayreuth Festival; he is scheduled to reprise the role in its staged premiere in Dortmund in April 2027. In 2023/24, he sang Quyokuma and Fantastikuss in the world premiere of Pierangelo Valtinoni’s Die Reise zu Planet 9, with further engagements in the work at Deutsche Oper am Rhein and Oper Bonn. His Dortmund repertoire also includes S-4711 in the world premiere of Sarah Nemtsov’s WE (WIR).

Mr. Kim’s work in Dortmund encompasses the Mozart roles of Belmonte, Tamino and Don Ottavio, together with Léopold in La Juive, Alfred in Die Fledermaus and Alfredo Germont in La traviata. He has also sung Froh in Das Rheingold. In 2025, he appeared as Fenton in Falstaff at Oper Leipzig and returned to the Verbier Festival as Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi. His Verbier debut as Rodolfo in 2021 brought him the Prix Yves Paternot.

From 2018 to 2020, Mr. Kim belonged to the International Opera Studio at Staatsoper Hamburg, where he sang Scaramuccio in Ariadne auf Naxos under Kent Nagano. His concert work includes Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra under Jaap van Zweden in 2024/25.

Alongside the Cardiff Song Prize, his distinctions include third prize at Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in 2022 and the Glyndebourne Opera Cup’s Young Jury Award in 2020. He received second prize at the Salvatore Licitra Competition in 2019, first prize at the Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition in 2018 and a special prize at the Francisco Viñas Competition in 2016.

Born in Gwangmyeong, Mr. Kim studied with Gwangsun Song at the Korea National University of Arts and completed his master’s degree with Ewa Wolak and Julia Varady at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin. He attended masterclasses with Seungseo Na and Maurizio Carnelli in Seoul and with Thomas Hampson and Barbara Frittoli in Verbier. His further training in Hamburg included work with Lioba Braun, Deborah Polaski, Bejun Mehta, Gerd Uecker, Christiane Karg and Brigitte Fassbaender.